


Catch Me If I Fall

by jcreaus



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: (at first), Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, Softball, Underage Drinking, emily hates her, jj is the new girl, rivalry ensues!, they're on the same college softball team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jcreaus/pseuds/jcreaus
Summary: Emily Prentiss will definitely not fall for the new player on her softball team.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 28
Kudos: 105





	1. did you hear about the new girl?

“Did you hear about the new girl?”

Elle sat down onto the grass next to where Emily was stretching her legs. Practice had started a few minutes ago, so everyone was sprawled out in the outfield warming up together. They had formed a large circle, and everyone was stretching and talking amongst themselves.

“What new girl?” Emily asked.

“I guess coach approved a transfer from another school,” Elle explained with a shrug. Her starting position at shortstop was pretty much set in stone, so another addition to the team was no sweat off her back.

Emily was confused why no one had told her about this transfer. Last she checked, Elle wasn’t the _only_ captain of the team. Tara didn’t know either, because she would’ve told Emily as soon as she found out, so why did only Elle know?

“Did you say we’re getting a transfer?” Jordan called from the other side of the circle. This type of news was rare, so it caught everyone’s attention.

Elle nodded and pulled her right arm across her body to stretch her shoulder. She didn’t say anything after that, but the entire team was eager to know about who was joining their team.

It was the first practice of the new season, and everyone had already met over the summer. There were only three freshmen on the team this year, so it had been an easy adjustment for the returning players. Their team was smaller than normal, with only ten girls, which must’ve been why they were adding another player. 

“Oh my god, Elle.” Tara laughed lightly. “You can’t just drop that kind of information without telling us _who_ this new girl is.” She laid flat on her back and raised both of her legs vertically into the air. She lowered them again, and repeated the motion a few times to warmup her abdominal muscles.

Emily laid on her back, mirroring Tara’s position. She repeated the motion a few times, contemplating the bomb Elle had just dropped. It’s not that she was typically unwelcoming of new teammates, but a transfer was different. They had a girl transfer onto the team last year, and she was a total bitch to the entire team. She thought she ran the place just because she was older and had a starting position right away.

The girl had transferred to their team for her senior season, so luckily for Emily, she had graduated last year. Emily was the starting catcher this season, as well as one of the three captains of the team. She was excited to help finally command the field.

Unless this transfer waltzed onto their field and tried to do the same thing.

“Her name is Jennifer,” Elle started as she switched arms to stretch her other shoulder. “I think her last name is Jareau, but I can’t remember. She’s a junior this year.”

“Oh wait,” Sam, the left fielder, piped in. “She was on the Arizona Lions last year, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Elle confirmed.

“I know her! Well, I don’t _know_ her, but I remember she had really amazing stats when you guys played that team last year,” Penelope added.

Penelope Garcia was an occupational therapy student at the college who had joined the team as an athletic training intern last year. She had clicked with the girls almost immediately, and now she was the team mom and biggest fan all in one. She showed up to every practice and game with the biggest smile on her face, and she was always decked out in the team colors. Sure, she was there because she had to be, but she also wanted to be.

Penelope sat in the dugout with the team and the coaches at games, and she tried to learn as much as she could about scorekeeping. One of the assistant coaches had taught her how to keep the scorebook, which is how she knew so much about the stats of other players in the league.

“What position did she play last year?” Tara questioned. She shared a glance with Emily, knowing how much it would piss the brunette off if the new girl had amazing stats _and_ was a catcher. She did not want to go down that road again with Emily. Once was enough.

“Third base,” Penelope answered.

“What she said,” Elle nodded towards Penelope. “Jareau has the highest fielding percentage in our league, so like, she must be pretty damn close to perfect.”

Elle was the team’s shortstop, and it wasn’t a secret to anyone how amazing she was in that position. Her fielding percentage was high enough last year to land her a spot in the top five infielders of the league, but she had a few more errors than some of the other girls ranked above her. Jareau was one of them. 

The league was made up of 25 Division I colleges on the west coast, and their team, The California Spartans, was in the top ten. Last year, they had made it all the way to the Women’s College World Series, but lost before they could make it to semi-finals. The ESPN Press Room projected that their team would make it to the top four this season now that the younger girls from last year are upperclassmen.

With Jareau on the team, maybe they could be in the top two.

“We lost to the Lions in quarter finals last year,” Emily said under her breath. Everyone knew it, but apparently it wasn’t a sore subject for them like it was for her. It had been drilled in Emily’s head from a very early age that losing was not an option, and although she had come a long way since then, she still hated it. She could practically hear her mom say, “had you not struck out then _maybe_ your team would have won. They were counting on you!”

“Jareau hit in the winning run,” Penelope whispered, remembering when she had to mark it into the scorebook as the girls realized that they weren’t going to make it to the final four teams of the series. 

“Good thing she’s on _our_ team now,” Ashley, one of the three freshmen on the team this year, thought out loud. She said it while lacing up her cleats, so she didn’t catch Emily glaring at her.

“Elle, I think we should do our lap now,” Emily said, hopeful that the conversation about this Jennifer girl would end if the team was too busy running to talk.

Elle stood up, agreeing with Emily. The rest of the team stood, and soon enough, the ten of them were jogging around the perimeter of the field. They practiced in the stadium where their televised games are played, so the size of the outfield was pretty large. Two laps around the inside perimeter of the fence was just short of a mile, so they took that route as a part of their warmup every practice.

Emily felt threatened by this new girl, and she knew that. It pissed her off. She knew that if Jareau joined the team and was already better than her, she would never hear the end of it from her mother. She really tried to move on from the shit her mom used to say to her when she played softball growing up, but sometimes her words echoed in her head at the worst times.

Her mother hardly showed up to her games, but her voice was always in Emily’s head telling her how she could’ve thrown the ball a little harder or swung a little sooner. And when Emily finally thought she had escaped that voice, her mom would call her after every game, telling her that she caught a glimpse of the game and saw Emily make a bunch of errors.

Needless to say, Emily hated it.

She tried to push the image of her mother out of her head as the team ran. Running was not her forte, but right now, it was better to focus on her feet moving beneath her than her businesswoman mother shouting in her ear to be a better player.

Just as the team made their way to the infield for the second time, their head coaches emerged from the door in the dugout that led to the offices and locker rooms. Walking between the two coaches was a blonde girl wearing their practice uniform. She had her equipment in a bag on her back, and she was holding onto her cleats.

Emily didn’t recognize her, which probably meant the girl was Jennifer Jareau.

_Fuck_. She’s pretty.

“Ladies, left field please,” Derek called as the team made their way towards home plate.

Derek attended their school and played on the baseball team, but he graduated about ten years ago. After a few more years of schooling to get his doctoral degree, Derek returned to the college as a criminology professor. The softball team was looking for another assistant coach, and he took the job. He’s been with the team for about five years now, and everyone adores him.

Whenever a coach asks them to go out to left field, it means they have something to talk about as a team. Everyone assumed they were going to introduce Jennifer and explain how she had made it on the team without anyone knowing, so after each girl touched home plate with their cleat, they turned around and jogged to the outfield. They sat down again, waiting for their coaches and new teammate to join them.

Emily sat down towards the front of the group of girls, hoping that it was obvious to the new girl that she was one of the captains. Tara and Jordan sat on either side of her, and the rest of the team sat behind them.

Emily focused on the grass at her feet, picking at each blade like her life depended on it. She was not looking forward to this introduction.

All four coaches stood in front of the group, with Jennifer in the middle of them.

“I’d like everyone to meet Jennifer Jareau,” Hotch, the head coach, began. He put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and continued, “she transferred here from Arizona University, and she’ll be joining the team as our third baseman.”

The blonde standing in front of them lifted her hand to wave as she looked over the team sitting in front of her. “You can call me JJ,” she smiled.

Emily looked up at that, but was annoyed with herself when their eyes locked. JJ smiled at her, and Emily diverted her eyes back to the grass at her feet. Everyone had called out a variation of “hi JJ” to help her feel more welcome, but Emily chose to sit silently, picking at the grass.

She was _really_ pretty.

“I hope you girls can make her feel welcome,” Coach Rossi, their other head coach, added. “She is a phenomenal player and a natural leader, so we’re very lucky to have her.”

Emily rolled her eyes. Her head was still down, avoiding eye contact with JJ or any of her coaches, so luckily no one caught her. They didn’t need any more ‘phenomenal players’, and they certainly didn’t need another person commanding the infield. Tara, Elle, and Emily had their own system that had worked last year when they were all in the infield together, and adding another ‘natural leader’ to the mix couldn’t be good.

“She’s a junior, so I would like her to move in to the softball house with the rest of the upperclassmen,” Hotch continued. “Elle and Jordan have an empty room in their split-portion of the house, so JJ will be taking that room. I already spoke to JJ and Elle about this, but if anyone has any questions, you know where to find me.”

“Alright ladies,” Alex clapped her hands together, “time to warm up your arms.”

Alex Blake is the other assistant coach, and is also a professor at the college. She teaches in the social science building with Derek, and their offices are right next to each other. She’s been with the team for about ten years, which is how long she’s been an anthropology and linguistics professor at the school. She played softball throughout high school and in college, but she played for fun. Sure, she can be competitive, but competition isn’t worth it if the players don’t have a good time. She joined the team as an assistant coach to have fun with the girls and make sure they don’t take themselves or the game too seriously.

“Emily, why don’t you throw with JJ?” Alex suggested. She raised her eyebrow at the brunette as she looked up at her.

Alex was pretty damn good at reading body language, which Emily had figured out less than a week into her freshman year. Emily thought she had a pretty good poker face when it came to practices and games, because being upset in front of the entire team wasn’t desirable in any way. Alex pulled her aside a few times to talk to her about what was bothering her, even when Emily thought she had hidden her emotions fairly well.

Apparently right now was no different. Emily was going to have to tolerate JJ whether she wanted to or not.

“Sure,” Emily stood up and grabbed her mitt from where the team had discarded them before stretching. “Let’s line up,” she called loudly to the team.

They normally warmed up their arms at their own pace, and with the throwing partner of their choice. Emily and Tara usually threw together quick and then moved to the bullpen for the first half of practice. Both of them have their own daily strengthening drills that they work on together, and then Tara throws some pitches before they rejoin the rest of the team.

Today was going to be different, and Emily was _not_ happy about that. Thanks Alex.

“Let me put my cleats on quick,” JJ said to Emily, who had already walked away from her. JJ sat on the grass and slipped them on, making sure to lace them up tightly. “I already stretched and everything.”

“Great,” Emily replied coldly. She didn’t really care whether or not JJ was ready to start throwing, because she was, and she wanted to escape to the bullpen soon.

JJ was barely standing before Emily threw the ball at her. Their warmup started with wrist snaps, and the girls are supposed to lightly flick the softball back and forth from just a few feet apart. Emily used most of her strength to chuck the ball at JJ, so had the ball hit her body instead of her mitt, it would’ve done a lot of damage.

“Prentiss,” Alex warned. She stood at the edge of the infield with her arms crossed, carefully watching their warmup.

“Sorry,” Emily shrugged, “I thought you were ready.”

“It’s fine,” JJ picked the ball up from the grass and tossed it back.

They usually spent a good amount of time warming their arms up, so Derek brought out a speaker and played music from his phone. This had been a tradition for the team, and it was exciting for them to get back into the swing of things. It helped Emily feel normal about this new girl, but she didn’t open her mouth to sing along with everyone else.

Derek plays the music so they can let loose, which would hypothetically lead to them being more comfortable with the coaches during practices and trust each other on the field during games. The girls usually scream the lyrics on the top of their lungs, all while taking their throwing very seriously. The balance helped them succeed individually and as a team.

Emily still opted for silence.

She needed to focus and not let her guard down around JJ, just in case the blonde wanted to take over her position as captain and team leader. You know, since she’s so “natural” at it.

The rest of practice went smoothly, or at least Emily thought. She got to blow off some steam by chucking the ball as hard as she could at JJ when they were playing catch. Alex would probably say something about it later, but whatever. She warmed up her arm, and that’s what mattered.

After warmups, Emily and Tara went to the bullpen with Alex and worked on their pitching and catching drills. Tara spent some extra time adjusting her windup for when she needed to throw a curve ball so that her form didn’t give the pitch away, and Emily was happy to be separate from everyone else for a little bit longer.

The infielders took a bunch of ground balls, and then Tara and Emily joined them so they could work on hypothetical plays they might use in games. The outfielders did their own thing with Derek and Coach Rossi, so the team was pretty much split for the second half of practice. It didn’t always go like that, but today, because it was their first day back, they spent their time working on the basics.

JJ was amazing. It was obvious to everyone. It was especially obvious to Emily, who had secretly been watching her every move from behind the plate. She was quick on her feet, and had an incredible range that she didn’t even know was possible for a third baseman. Whenever Hotch threw a ball for the first baseman, third baseman, and catcher to field as a bunt, JJ always beat them to it. She fielded each ball cleanly, and never made a bad throw.

Emily could tell why she had been ranked number one for infielders. This girl was incredible.

She didn’t step on her toes at all, but Emily was still skeptical. JJ had been quiet throughout practice, truly focusing on her footing and reaction time. Emily focused as best as she could on her own fielding, but JJ was definitely one of those players that was fun to watch because of how amazing she is.

Emily would never admit that out loud, though.

After practice, they all went their separate ways to clean up. Emily, Elle, and Sam went back to the house to use the showers there to wash up, and the rest of them used the showers in the locker room. Emily really wanted to get the hell away from everyone, so after she showered, she went into her room and turned some music on to relax.

JJ wasn’t moving in for a few days, so Emily had no idea where she went after practice. But honestly, she didn’t really care. 


	2. never have i ever...

JJ lifted the plastic tub from her car and set it on the gravel driveway. That was the last of what had to be unloaded, so she closed her trunk and locked her car. She sat on the container, needing a break from carrying all of her things through the house and up two flights of stairs.

She had been staying with her cousin for the last week while she adjusted to her new team, but now that it was Saturday and she had a day off from practice, she was moving in to the house with the rest of the upperclassmen.

JJ was going to take the empty third bedroom in Elle and Jordan’s apartment in the house, and the rest of the girls were split up between the other two apartments. Tara and Emily were in the apartment on the second floor, and Sam, Olivia, and Rowan were in the third apartment, which was split between the first and second floors of the house. Each apartment had two bathrooms for the girls to share, and on the first floor, there was a kitchen and a living room for all eight of them to use.

“Want me to help you with that?”

JJ looked up from where she had rested her head in her hands to find Jordan standing next to her. She smiled, grateful that she wouldn’t have to lug it up to the third floor alone. She stood, and they each took one side of the tub and made their way up to JJ’s bedroom.

As they went up the stairs, they passed Tara and Emily’s portion of the house. The door was shut, but JJ knew Emily was in there alone. Tara had been gracious enough to help JJ bring in some of her things, but Emily pretty much spat in her face when one of the other girls had asked her to help them. JJ had just smiled because she didn’t want any trouble, at least not this early in the season, but whatever was up Emily’s ass was really starting to annoy her.

They had practice every day last week, and JJ tried really hard to be friendly to Emily, but every attempt she made was shot down immediately.

JJ remembered Emily from their first two seasons because they were in the same league, and they’d played against each other on multiple occasions. Whenever JJ went up to bat and Emily was catching, she was intimidated by the slightly-taller brunette. She commanded the field effortlessly, and had an incredible arm that could throw out even their quickest players.

A few months ago, when JJ had committed to the transfer, she looked up the team roster to see who had graduated at the end of the last season and who she would be playing with this year. She recognized Emily immediately, and was excited to play with such an amazing athlete.

At their first practice, when Alex told them to throw together during warmups, JJ had been eager to talk to Emily about her stats. The brunette was known for throwing out the fastest players when they tried to steal second base, which had saved her team from losing on more than one occasion. But, when Emily tried to kill her within the first few minutes of practice, JJ was pretty sure it was hopeless.

She kept trying here and there, like in the locker room or the other day when they all went out to eat together after practice, but she was always given the cold shoulder. JJ wanted to keep trying, though, because this was her new team and it was important to her that they all got along.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Emily was beautiful. Definitely not.

“She doesn’t hate you,” Jordan commented as they made their way up to the second floor. She must’ve noticed JJ stare at the door for a second too long.

“What?”

“Emily.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure she does,” JJ sighed.

They made it to the top of the staircase, and Jordan used her back to push the door open into the apartment.

“She doesn’t,” Jordan explained. “Emily just needs to be the best at everything, and you’re really good.” She guided them through the hallway and into JJ’s room where they set the container down.

“So, she feels threatened by me?”

Jordan shook her head and sat down on JJ’s full-sized bed.

“Then, what is it?” JJ sat on the tub of clothes so she was facing Jordan. She genuinely wanted to understand why Emily was treating her as if she was the enemy, so she hoped Jordan had some answers for her.

“Her mom is pretty hard on her. Whenever it’s obvious that Emily doesn’t dominate the game or her stats aren’t the highest of the teams, her mom calls to bitch at her about it.” Jordan shrugged, hoping that explanation was good enough for JJ.

No one really knew how bad Emily’s relationship with her mom was, but whenever her phone rang after a game, the team knew it wasn’t going to be good. Emily trained harder and took everything way more seriously than anyone else, so they just assumed it had to do with what her mom said to her after their games. 

“Oh.” JJ looked at the floor and scrunched her eyebrows together in thought. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah, but now you know.” Jordan stood up. “Don’t take anything she says or does too personally.”

JJ nodded, but kept her eyes focused on the floor. How could someone be so horrible to their own daughter that she felt like she was never good enough?

“Do you need help unpacking?” Jordan was leaning against the doorframe, half hoping that she could escape to her room to take a nap.

“No, but thank you for everything,” JJ smiled, grateful that she had gotten so much help from the team.

“Don’t forget about dinner tonight!” Jordan called over her shoulder as she walked down the hall and into her bedroom.

-

“He lives _here_?” JJ questioned as they pulled into the driveway of a large house surrounded by palm trees. The ocean made up most of the backyard, so the sound of waves crashing onto the sand became louder as she stepped out of Elle’s car.

“Welcome to Rossi’s mansion,” Sam called as she got out of Emily’s car.

Coach Rossi was hosting a pasta dinner for the team tonight as a way to get them to spend time together outside of the softball stadium. Most of the girls lived together, but in their own bedrooms, so he hosted a dinner for them every once in a while to get them out of the house. He lived on the beach, so sometimes he had them over during the day so they could enjoy the weather. Tonight, however, they were going to sit around a bonfire and then he was giving them the house for the night. He figured the best way to get them to bond was to give them space _without_ a coach breathing down their backs.

But first, he was going to cook them pasta. It was his specialty.

All eleven girls hopped out of one of the three cars they came in, and grabbed their things from the trunk. They were sleeping over, so everyone had a pillow and a bag filled with clothes.

JJ heard that Elle was bringing alcohol for them to drink after Rossi left, but that might just be a rumor. One of the freshmen told her, so who knows how reliable that was.

“Ciao!” Rossi called as he opened the front door. “Come in.” He held the door open as all eleven girls filed in. “Dinner is ready, so put your stuff down and pick a seat.”

JJ followed the team to the back of the house where the living room was. Elle put her pillow down on the couch and her bag on the floor, so JJ did the same. She had no idea what the protocol was at your coach’s beach house, so she just followed whatever the older girls did. It seemed like the freshmen were just as confused, which made her feel way better.

“Sit, sit.” Rossi gestured towards the large dining room table that was in a smaller room off of the kitchen.

Elle sat at the head of the table, and the other ten sat on either side of her. Emily sat to the right of Elle, and although JJ wanted to sit by her so they could have a chance to hang out, she decided against it.

JJ had spent the entire afternoon unpacking her things and thinking about the way Emily has been acting, and it was starting to make sense to her. Emily’s mom was horrible to her, so when she thought back to every time the girl had tried to one-up her at practice or shot her down when she wanted to lead the team, she actually felt bad for Emily. She hated that Emily was going through that, and she hated that the brunette took it out on her. Especially because JJ truly wanted to be her friend.

Maybe she could talk to her? JJ wasn’t sure what to do, but she figured just being friendly to the girl was her best bet for now.

“Coach, this looks amazing,” Jordan commented as she took her spot next to JJ.

Tara was next to Emily, and Jordan was next to Tara, which put JJ three seats away from Emily. She was fine with it for now, but later she was really going to try and talk to her. Rossi mentioned something about a bonfire, so that would probably be the perfect time. Plus, if Elle really did bring alcohol, maybe that would help them get a conversation going.

There were two large bowls of pasta and sauce on the table, and each girl scooped some onto their plate and then passed it along. There were other side dishes, like garlic bread and salad, so by the time they were done eating, everyone was completely full.

After dinner, all eleven girls helped Rossi clear the table, clean the kitchen, and wash the dishes. They got it done fairly quickly, so he left shortly after he made sure everyone was settled and comfortable with staying the night.

“Finally,” Elle sighed. She walked into the living room, grabbed her backpack, and walked back into the kitchen where the team was. A few girls were sitting on barstools, and everyone else was scattered around the counter.

JJ was leaning against the island when Elle lifted her bag and set it on the counter in front of her. She pulled out two packs of seltzers and a bottle of Rum.

“Sam, did you bring the soda?” Elle asked the sophomore seated at the counter.

“Obviously.” She walked into the living room and returned with a two liter bottle in her hands. “We can’t have Rum and Coke without the Coke.”

\-----

Emily had decided she wanted to get drunk the second she woke up that morning.

And that’s what she was going to do.

She was already onto her second seltzer, and had taken a few shots of the Rum that Elle brought earlier. The room was just starting to spin by the time she sat down at the fire with everyone else.

Rossi’s house was on the beach, and a large portion of his backyard was sand. However, he had a back porch with an outdoor kitchen and firepit for occasions like these. Rossi had built a pretty good fire before he left, and made sure to set aside extra wood and newspaper for when they needed it.

The firepit was surrounded by lawn chairs and a matching stone bench, so there was enough room for all of them. Emily sat between Tara and one of the freshmen, and even though she tried to avoid sitting near JJ, the blonde managed to find a spot that put her in Emily’s direct line of view.

“Let’s play a game,” Elle said after everyone found a seat around the fire. She was wrapped in a blanket next to the table with all of the s’mores stuff on it. Rossi always had marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers on hand for when the team came over.

“Fuck yeah.” Jordan took a sip of her seltzer. “What about truth or dare?”

“Boring,” Emily deadpanned. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to suggest something else. She just shrugged. “I can never think of any funny dares.” She was pretty sure she just slurred her words a little, but there was no going back now. She was drunk and did not want to play truth or dare.

“Never have I ever?” JJ piped in.

“Okay, yeah,” Elle agreed. “I’ll go first.”

Emily knew how to play this game, so she knew it was only going to get her more drunk. Especially with her track record. She decided to cool it with the seltzer, and only take a sip when the game called for it.

“Never have I ever been kicked out of a bar.”

Tara, Emily, and Ashley took a sip of their drinks.

Everyone looked at Ashley, who was one of the freshmen this year.

She shrugged. “They found out my I.D. was fake.”

Everyone laughed, and Elle went on a tangent about the time she got caught with a fake I.D. at the bar near their school, but the bartender didn’t care enough to make her leave.

“Okay, okay. My turn,” Olivia said. They usually go in a circle to take turns, and she was next to Elle, so she decided to keep the game going. “Never have I ever kissed a girl.”

“You haven’t?” Tara asked loudly. They were in college, so she figured everyone on the team had kissed at least one other girl at this point, either drunk at a party or an actual girlfriend.

Emily took a sip of her seltzer and then looked around to see who else did. Eight other girls took a sip of their drinks.

Including JJ.

She was drunk, but she was aware enough to take a mental note of that.

“Next!” Rowan called. “Never have I ever liked a teammate.”

“I am _not_ exposing myself like that,” Jordan laughed.

“So you have?” Elle raised her eyebrows.

“Shut up!” Jordan took the marshmallow off of her stick and threw it at Elle. It hit her right in the cheek, which made the rest of the team laugh.

“Oh my god, fine.” Rowan rolled her eyes. “Never have I ever liked a _former_ teammate.”

“Guilty.” Tara raised her red solo cup into the air before taking a sip.

“It was me.” Emily smiled as she took a sip of her drink as well. Tara hit Emily’s arm with the back of her hand and laughed.

Sam and Olivia took a sip of their drinks.

Elle and Jordan shared a glance, half wanting to bug the underclassmen about their past crushes but also wanting to continue the game.

“Lexie, you’re up,” Elle called.

Lexie was another one of the freshmen this year, which made her one of the youngest of the girls. Her older sister, Sam, was a sophomore on the team, so everyone was familiar with her, but she still seemed nervous.

“Um,” she drawled out, “never have I ever had a boyfriend.”

Sam burst out laughing at that, which made Lexie roll her eyes.

“I know, it’s sad. Can we just continue?”

Emily pressed her lips together to contain her laugh as she brought her drink to her lips. She closed her eyes, so she missed who else took a sip, but she was pretty sure everyone was looking at her anyway.

“Emily Prentiss!” Tara yelled. “You’ve had a _boyfriend_?”

Emily nearly choked on her seltzer from laughing so hard. She had come out as gay her freshman year of high school, and never went through that bullshit phase of pretending to be straight by having boyfriends. She had girlfriends, and even brought them around the team, so this news was shocking to everyone there.

“His name was Joey, and I miss him dearly.” She jutted her bottom lip out to make it seem like she was sad. Unfortunately for her, she was drunk, so it didn’t last long. She burst into laughter, and everyone stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

“Emily!” Tara yelled.

“Oh, right,” she giggled. Emily did not giggle. She was very drunk. “He was my preschool boyfriend. The only one I’ve had,” she explained. 

Emily looked up at JJ to see an uncomfortable smile on her face, kind of like she knew something was funny, but didn’t understand what. Everyone knew that Emily was gay, but she wasn’t sure if JJ had caught on. Probably not, considering the look on her face.

“Who’s next?”

“Oh, I am,” Emily realized.

Emily took her turn, and then the other six girls went after her. They decided to finish once they had made it around the circle twice, which everyone seemed grateful for. It was fun, and they were learning a lot about each other, but they really wanted to dig into the s’mores stuff.

“Let me go grab my peanut butter cups,” Emily slurred a little. She was definitely passed the point of being tipsy, and she was about to cross over into ‘not fun’ drunk territory. She needed food immediately.

“Peanut butter cups?” one of the freshman asked out loud as soon as Emily ran off.

“She uses those instead of chocolate,” Tara explain. “She’s weird, I know.”

The team passed around the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers while Emily was in the house. Earlier, they had found some sticks in Rossi’s pantry that they could use, so everyone was roasting their marshmallows by the time she came back.

“Here are the peanut butter cups for anyone who wants them.” Emily plopped back down onto her chair next to Tara and opened the package. She took out a peanut butter cup and balanced it on her knee while she took a graham cracker and broke it in half.

“Nobody wants your nasty peanut butter s’mores,” Tara teased her. In reality, it sounded amazing, but there was no way she would admit that to Emily.

“Actually,” JJ spoke up for the first time since never have I ever, “could you pass me one?”

Tara looked up to see if she had heard the blonde correctly. The team always made fun of Emily for how she ate her s’mores, so they did not expect someone else to try it. Tara picked up the package of peanut butter cups, and handed it to Jordan, who passed it on to JJ.

JJ shrugged when she saw Tara looking at her. “I like them with peanut butter cups, too.”

Emily kept her stick over the fire, watching the entire interaction. _Of course_ the new girl liked her s’mores the same way as her. She was already being so nice to her for absolutely no reason, so now she has _another_ reason to like her? Fuck. 

The team sat around the fire for another hour or so before they decided to head back inside to sleep. They were lucky to not have their usual early Sunday practice, but it was getting late and everyone was pretty drunk, so they wanted to go to bed.

Emily was very drunk. Her stomach settled a bit after eating a few s’mores, so she figured she was okay enough to drink some more. She and Elle ended up taking another shot or two of the Rum, which had seemed like a much better idea at the time. Once they got inside and Emily laid down, the room started spinning and she felt nauseous.

Everyone was scattered around the downstairs somewhere. There were enough beds upstairs for the entire team, but Rossi requested that they sleep downstairs together for bonding purposes. He had a living room and a carpeted office, so they had all spread out between the two rooms. Emily chose the living room because it was closer to the bathroom, and she was pretty sure the s’mores she ate were going to come back up later.

Elle and Jordan had occupied the biggest couch, Sam and Rowan were on the other couch, so that left Tara, Emily, and JJ on the floor in the living room. The other four girls were on the floor in Rossi’s office.

Emily had fallen asleep around the same time as everyone else, but her eyes shot open a few hours later with sweat pooling on her forehead and her stomach turning. She was definitely going to be sick.

She sat up as quick as she could without upsetting her stomach even more, but it was hopeless. She barely made it to the powder room off the kitchen before she was throwing up.

Emily sat in front of the toilet for a few moments, emptying the contents of her stomach. Her head was pounding, and her stomach cramped every time more came up. She was able to pause for a moment, which is when she felt a cool hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little, but then melted into the touch once she realized someone, probably Tara, was there to hold her hair back.

She felt like she was done throwing up for the time being, so she turned around to take the hair tie that was being offered to her.

JJ.

“Are you okay?” the blonde asked quietly.

“I’m fine.” Emily grabbed the hair tie out of JJ’s hand and put her hair up as best as she could. Sure there were bumps and strands that she missed, but her stomach hurt too bad for her to care.

“You’re not fine.” JJ sat down onto the hardwood floor next to Emily. She put a hand on Emily’s bare arm. “Do you need anything?”

Emily shook her head. She really wanted a water, but she felt more peanut butter s’mores coming up, so she decided it could wait. She turned to face the toilet again. She was grateful that her hair was out of her face this time.

JJ pressed her hand onto Emily’s back and rubbed it gently while she threw up. She made sure the hair in her ponytail didn’t fall into her face, and when her t-shirt rode up to expose her back, JJ pulled it back down so the girl wouldn’t get cold.

Emily would never admit it, but she definitely needed JJ right now. Her mother had never been great when she was sick, so she usually just threw up, hated it, and then moved on. But right now, with JJ’s cold hand on her sweaty back, she felt calm.

Plus, she was throwing up, so she was not feeling up to shitting on the girl right now.

Once she finally stopped and her stomach wasn’t cramping, Emily scooted a little so her back was pressed against the wall. JJ got up and left, and Emily thought she was going to go back to bed.

But then she came back with a glass of water.

Emily took the glass from JJ and smiled. She really needed that.

“How’s your stomach?” JJ sat down across from Emily, mirroring her position against the wall.

Obviously her stomach wasn’t great, but Emily appreciated her concern. “Better. I don’t feel as nauseous,” Emily told her, “just kind of gross.”

“Do you think you could hold down a cracker or two?” JJ asked. “You should probably get some food into your system to soak everything up.”

Emily stared at the girl with her brows furrowed a bit. Why was she being so nice to her?

“C’mon.” JJ stood up and held her hand out for Emily to take, “I’m sure this old man has some saltines laying around here somewhere.”

Emily didn’t feel drunk anymore; she just felt gross. And her head hurt. And her body ached. She stood up with JJ’s help, but didn’t let go of her hand as they walked into the kitchen. She felt like she was barely conscious, so she needed all of the help she could get. And she didn’t feel well enough to protest about it right now.

JJ guided Emily to the counter, where she helped her sit down on one of the barstools. Luckily the living room and office where their teammates were sleeping isn’t connected to the kitchen, so they didn’t have to worry about being completely silent.

The stool banged the counter as Emily climbed onto it, but neither of them heard any movement from the other rooms, so they ignored it. JJ began opening cabinets in search of crackers for Emily, and Emily sat on the stool waiting. She folder her arms on the counter and rested her head on them. Her head felt heavy, so she just wanted to put it down for a few seconds.

“Found some,” JJ whisper-yelled from behind Emily. She emerged from the walk-in pantry with a box of miniature saltine crackers in her hand. “Let’s go outside,” she said as she put her hand on Emily’s shoulder to steady her as she stood up. “The fresh air will be good for you.”

Emily held onto JJ’s arm as they walked through the backdoor out onto the porch. They sat on the stairs that lead to the beach, so their feet were in the sand, but they weren’t sitting in it completely.

JJ opened the box and handed it to Emily, who took it gratefully. She ate one, and then another before picking up her water and taking a sip of it.

“Feeling okay?” JJ asked softly.

“Yeah,” Emily sighed. “My stomach feels better.”

“Hey, that’s a good sign.” JJ turned her head so she was facing Emily. She smiled brightly, glad that the girl was starting to feel a bit better. She knew what it was like to get sick after drinking, and it was not pleasant.

They watched the waves crash onto the sand for a few minutes before either of them spoke up again. There was something about the way the moon was reflected on the ocean that made them both feel at peace, so they were perfectly okay with the quiet.

“So, your boyfriend,” JJ laughed lightly.

Emily raised her eyebrows at JJ and laughed. She realized the girl was probably very confused by the whole joke, so she thought now was the perfect time to explain it to her.

“I’m gay,” Emily said confidently. “The whole team knows, which is why they thought the whole thing with Joey was funny.” She laughed again, remembering everyone’s reaction.

“That makes _a lot_ more sense.” JJ smiled brightly and looked at Emily.

They sat on the step shoulder-to-shoulder for a few minutes, laughing at the joke now that JJ understood it. After a while, Emily was pretty sure they were just laughing at each other rather than the joke itself. It wasn’t _that_ funny, but somehow, they were still sitting there cracking up.

Once their laughter died down, they sat quietly again, just listening to the sound of the ocean. Emily was starting to feel better, but she knew that she still had a ton of alcohol in her system. She was afraid that if she went back to bed she would end up sick again, so she didn’t move to get up. JJ must’ve read her mind, because she didn’t move either.

“At least he’s not the worst ex I have,” she said. She meant it as a joke, but as her words sunk in, she realized how true it was. Her worst ex _should_ be a guy because she’s gay, but that wasn’t the case.

“He’s not?”

“Nope,” Emily sighed. Her filter was not working at all, which also probably meant she wouldn’t remember this conversation tomorrow. So, she started ranting about her ex. “Her name is Maggie. We dated freshman year, and she was the first person I was really serious about.”

JJ shifted a little so her body was facing Emily. The girl was opening up to her, so she wanted to make sure she looked like she was listening. Because she was, and she really cared about what Emily had to say.

“What happened?” JJ asked softly. She didn’t want to push Emily, but she knew encouragement was important in these types of situations.

“She cheated on me.” Emily looked down at her hands. “I found out on our one year anniversary. And now she’s dating that girl, the one she cheated on me with.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah.”

“What the fuck are you guys doing?”

The voice made Emily jump. Her and JJ turned around at the same time to find Elle standing in the doorframe of the sliding glass door.

“I got sick,” Emily shrugged. She knew Elle would tease her later for not being able to hold down her alcohol.

“And I got her crackers,” JJ chimed in. She stood up and held her hand out for Emily to take. Once they were both standing, they followed Elle back into the living room.

“So, are you guys friends now?” Elle smirked. JJ had walked away to put the crackers back in the pantry, so Elle figured it was the perfect time to tease her about JJ.

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! i hope you liked this chapter! 
> 
> leave a comment here or shoot me a message on tumblr (@jcreaus) and let me know what you think!
> 
> have a good day/night :)


	3. we'll handle it

Emily woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating loudly on her nightstand. She opened her eyes, but closed them again as soon she registered the light shining through the window. After listening to the vibration for another moment, she twisted so that she was on her back, and lifted her phone to her ear.

It was Penelope.

“Hey, PG,” Emily answered. She rested her hand over her eyes to block the sun.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

Emily could practically see her smile through the phone.

“Why are you calling so early?”

“Because I’m getting us coffee,” Penelope explained.

Emily smiled.

Last year, Emily and Penelope had a morning class together, so they got into the habit of getting each other a coffee on the days they had the class. They usually alternated days, and last year, on the last day of classes, Emily had gotten them both coffee. Today was the first day of the semester, and Emily and Penelope had their first class together, so Penelope was continuing the tradition.

“What would you like, babe?” Penelope paused to let her answer. “Your usual?”

“Yes, please.” Emily drawled out the last syllable with a smile on her face. She _always_ needed a coffee to get her day started, and knowing that it was coming from the café near campus instead of her own kitchen made her way happier than she cared to admit.

“Yay,” Penelope cheered. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

Emily thanked her and hung up the phone. She was _not_ happy about the semester starting, but the idea of coffee almost made up for it. Almost.

After a few minutes of scrolling through her phone and answering the softball group chat about what their practice schedule looked like for the week, Emily got out of bed. She walked over to her closet, pulled out a white tank top and a brown flannel, and then went to her dresser to get a pair of straight-leg jeans. She completed the look by cuffing the bottom of her jeans, adding a black belt, and putting on her black doc martens. It was the first day, so she figured she should try to look nice for class.

Once her bed was made and her bag was packed with her notebook and computer, Emily made her way downstairs. Penelope liked to be early, so Emily was ahead of schedule today. She normally showed up at the exact minute her class started.

“What classes do you have today?” Sam asked as Emily came down the stairs.

“Gender and Law, and then a criminology one later,” Emily replied. She pulled her backpack onto her back, and stood by the door.

“Are either of those with Alex or Derek?” Elle chimed in from her spot at the kitchen table.

“The first one is with Alex.”

“Of course it is.” Elle smirked.

Everyone knew that when one of their coaches was also their professor, it was super awkward for both parties. In reality, it didn’t need to be awkward, but the girls always felt like their coaches were keeping an eye on them when they were in one of their classes. The coaches _were_ keeping an eye on them, but they tried really hard to not make it obvious.

“See you guys later,” Emily called as she made her way outside. The driveway was big enough for all of them to have a car there, but only a few of them did. Elle, Jordan, Emily, and JJ had their cars at the house, and they usually drove the other girls around when they needed to. Jordan and JJ’s cars were gone from the driveway, so Emily assumed they had a class this morning. She was grateful she didn’t run into the blonde before leaving.

The drive into campus was only about two minutes, so Emily parked her car and made her way into the social sciences building. Most of her classes were there, except for a few that were in the building next door, so she didn’t have to travel far during the day.

“Hey, buttercup.” Penelope smiled at Emily as she made her way into the building. She handed the girl her coffee, and they turned to walk to their classroom. “How is it?”

Emily took a sip of her Americano. “Good, as always.”

They arrived at the lecture hall, and filed in as the previous class left the room. They made their way to the left side, and sat down. They always sat on the left side of classrooms.

Alex was at the front of the room, organizing her papers and setting up her laptop. She looked up as the girls sat down, and waved at them.

“She scares me,” Penelope whispered.

Emily laughed, but if she was being honest, she was kind of scared of Alex, too. The woman was so put together, and she could read Emily like a book. She appreciated that, but it also made her cautious when she was around the woman.

Penelope smiled, and looked down to grab her assortment of colorful pens out of her backpack.

“Oh no.” Emily spun her chair so she was facing the front of the room. “This can’t be happening.”

Penelope looked up at Emily with a confused expression on her face, but then turned towards the door in the back of the room. JJ had just walked in alone, and she was clearly looking for a place to sit.

“I’m so sorry,” Penelope whispered in Emily’s ear before she turned towards the back of the room again. “Hey, JJ.” She paused, waiting for the girl to make eye contact with her. “Come sit with us,” Penelope called.

Emily kept her face buried in her hands. _Of course_ this was happening to her. In Alex’s class. Where she would have to be nice to JJ.

“Hey, guys.” JJ smiled, and sat down next to Penelope. She was next to the aisle, and Penelope sat between her and Emily. “I didn’t know you guys were in this class.”

“Yeah.” Emily twisted away from the other girls, and reached into her backpack. She pulled out her laptop, and set it in front of her, careful not to make a loud noise. Alex would definitely know she was annoyed if she slammed her computer onto the table. “We didn’t know either.”

Penelope turned away from Emily. “Just ignore her,” she whispered to JJ.

Emily was only two feet away, so she heard what Penelope had said. She decided to ignore it, though. She rolled her eyes, and then made herself look busy on her laptop. Emily was not in the mood for this today.

“Good morning, everyone,” Alex called from the front of the room. “Welcome to Gender and Law.”

-

“Why didn’t you tell me she was a social science major?” Emily basically yelled as her and Penelope made their way to the library. They had gotten out of class early because Alex decided to only go over the syllabus, so they were going to hang out at the library for a while.

“I didn’t know!” Penelope yelled back. She knew everything there was to know about JJ when it came to softball, but she had no idea what the girl was in school for. She ended up asking a few minutes into class because she was so curious. Actually, Emily had texted her to see if she would ask, but she was definitely curious too.

“Fuck my life.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Penelope sat down on one of the couches in the library, and Emily sat down next to her. Well, she plopped down next to her, and sighed loudly as she did.

“I have to see her at softball _and_ in class? Just kill me.” Emily threw her head back so it hit the back of the couch.

“Why do you even hate her so much?” JJ had been nice to everyone, so Penelope was genuinely confused.

“Can we _not_ talk about this?”

Emily shut down at Penelope’s question. To be honest, she didn’t really think that far. She didn’t _want_ to think that far. All she knew was that JJ was an incredible athlete, with a pretty smile, and silky blonde hair. She was basically perfect.

Plus, she was amazing at softball.

Emily was extremely envious of that, as much as she hated to admit it. The sport came naturally to JJ; she had actual, pure talent, and it seemed like there was no pressure for her to be perfect, because she just was. It was never that easy for Emily. She always had to work hard to be the best, and now that JJ was there, she knew she was going to have to work _that_ much harder.

It scared her.

“Fine, but I’m gonna need you to cheer up.”

-

Penelope and Emily got lunch together at a restaurant off campus, and then came back for their afternoon classes. Penelope had Anatomy, and Emily had Criminology and Juvenile Delinquency. They went their separate ways, and promised to get breakfast together the next time they had Gender and Law.

Emily walked through campus, still slightly upset about earlier. She was so confused about this whole thing with JJ, but she really did not want to think about it. The class she was heading to seemed interesting, so she was excited for the distraction. Plus, one of her favorite professors was teaching it, so she knew it was going to be great no matter what.

Then she saw JJ walk into the social sciences building. Which is where she was headed, too.

“I swear to god,” Emily said under her breath.

Emily was majoring in history, but she also had a social science minor, which put her in that building more than she thought it would. Actually, half of her classes were there this semester. JJ was majoring in political science, which, at their school, was considered a social science, so it made sense that their paths would cross eventually.

Emily took the open sides of her flannel and crossed them over her body, so her arms were wrapped around herself. She walked into the building a few feet behind JJ, and watched her walk right into room 102.

Where her class was.

“ _Jesus Christ_ ,” Emily thought.

Criminology and Juvenile Delinquency was a high level course, so it was bound to be in a small classroom with only a few students. Once Emily walked in, she saw that there were only about twenty desks.

Just her luck.

JJ was sitting at a desk in the front, right corner of the room. They made eye contact as Emily walked in, but she just turned her head away from JJ’s small wave and walked to the back of the room. All the way to the left.

They were as far apart as they could get.

\-----

JJ threw on a sweatshirt over her t-shirt, put on her slippers, and headed out of her bedroom. The team had practice in an hour, so she wanted to make herself some eggs before she had to get ready to leave.

Their schedules were all lined up for the most part, which their coaches did intentionally. The girls chose what classes they needed to take, and then the coaches worked together with academic advisors to select the sections that were at the same time. That way, they would be able to set up a weekly practice schedule that fell during the gaps between their classes.

JJ walked down the two flights of stairs that separated her from the kitchen, and realized how quiet the house was. She assumed everyone was either at class or still asleep, which probably meant she would get the kitchen to herself.

Wrong.

A brunette was standing at the stove, and she turned around at the sound of JJ walking into the kitchen. It was Emily.

“Hi.” JJ smiled.

She knew Emily wasn’t exactly fond of her, but they were teammates, so she tried to be nice to her. Emily was _not_ following her lead with that, which was starting to get annoying, but JJ kept her mouth shut. It had only been three weeks, so she figured it wasn’t the time for conflict.

Emily looked her up and down, and then turned back towards the stove without saying a word.

JJ opened the fridge, and let out a puff of air.

What the _fuck._ Now she was pissed.

She grabbed a strawberry yogurt, took a spoon out of the drawer next to the fridge, and then left the room. The door to the stairs was always kept open, but she slammed it shut behind her, and ran up the stairs.

JJ was pretty sure it would actually kill Emily to at least _tolerate_ her presence.

-

“Alright, ladies.” Hotch walked over to where the girls were gathered in left field. “Here’s what our plan is for today.”

They had just finished warming up, so they were waiting for their next instruction. Normally, Emily and Tara would leave to do their own thing for a little bit, and the rest of the team would do drills together, but Hotch told everyone at the beginning of practice that their routine would be different today.

JJ had thrown with Elle again, which she had been doing since that day Emily had tried to kill her during their first warmup. They got along pretty well, and she had been welcoming from the start. Everyone had been friendly, actually. Except for Emily.

“After a few infielding and outfielding drills, we are going to play Homerun Hero,” Rossi explained. 

A few of the older girls cheered, but JJ had no idea what that was.

“What is that?” JJ asked Lexie, who was sitting next to her, but the younger girl shrugged.

“This game is for fun,” Alex started. “Yeah, it’s meant to be a competition, but we don’t want anyone to take it too seriously.”

JJ was pretty sure that was aimed at Emily, but she didn’t want to assume.

“Okay, so,” Derek chimed in. “The rules are simple. We’ll have two teams, but only for hitting. Most of you will be in the field no matter who is up to bat.”

“We’ll have a full infield and outfield, minus a pitcher. Hitters will hit live, but off of a front toss,” Rossi told everyone.

“The goal of the hitter is to get the ball over the fence, but any hit before that will be played out like normal. I’ll call out some of our plays before a pitch, and if it makes sense for where the ball goes, then play it out. If not, just field it like you normally would. The hitters won’t be running the bases, so just assume a ghost runner is where I say they are,” Hotch explained.

JJ thought this game seemed like fun. It was a good way to practice real life scenarios that could happen in games, and the hitting practice was a bonus.

“How do we win?” one of the freshman called out from behind JJ.

“Whichever team has the fewer combined hits before a homerun,” Derek answered.

“So, for example, if Elle has six hits before she gets one over the fence, that would be added to her teams score,” Rossi explained. Elle scoffed when he said the number six, which earned a smile from the coach.

“This is for fun,” Alex chimed in. She was very serious about making sure everyone knew that they were teammates first, and they shouldn’t take competitions against each other too seriously. The last thing Alex wanted was to pit the girls against each other because she knew the consequences of that.

“Alright.” Derek clapped his hands together. “We’ll do a few warmup drills to get you ready for fielding and hitting, and then we’ll start.”

A few girls stood up, so JJ did the same. The beginning of practice for the infielders and outfielders was usually the same, so everyone went where they were supposed to. Hotch hit groundballs to the infielders, and Derek took the outfielders to right field. He hit them flyballs, and once he was satisfied with how they were doing, everyone took their spots on the field. Hotch and Morgan took turns hitting to all of them, and after a few minutes, they gathered in the dugout.

They all took sips of their waters and sat on the bench to wait for further instructions.

“Emily,” Alex called. “Gear up.”

Oh no. Emily was going to catch during the game, wasn’t she? JJ would have to go up to bat, and have Emily glaring at her from less than a foot away. Not to mention, they would be completely out of earshot from the coaches. She was fucked.

All of the coaches gathered in the dugout, and stood in front of the girls. They still had to get their teams, so everyone sat patiently, and waited for someone to start talking.

Penelope was at practice today, so Hotch gave her the task of keeping score. She had her hair up in pigtails, and her entire outfit was made up of the team’s official apparel. She had a maroon t-shirt on with the mascot on the front, and her last name on the back, black athletic shorts, and knee-high socks with a maroon stripe on each side.

“Team one,” Penelope spoke up. She was holding the whiteboard that she was going to use to keep score. “Prentiss, Dixon, Hastings, Todd, Lexie, Montgomery. Everyone else is on the second team.” She marked something down on the whiteboard, grabbed one of the softball buckets, and set it down at the entrance of the dugout.

“Okay, ladies, take your positions,” Hotch instructed. “Seaver, you’re hitting first.”

The girls ran out of the dugout to take their positions. JJ had to run across the field to get to her spot, which meant she had to go by Emily, who was already at home plate.

They were on opposing teams, so she decided she was going to be civil. Again.

“Good luck,” she yelled in Emily’s direction.

The brunette watched her run across the field, and then take her spot at third base. Without taking her eyes off of JJ, she lifted her catchers mask, and spit into the dirt at her feet.

JJ narrowed her eyes at Emily. What was her problem? She kicked the dirt around for a bit until it was smooth, and then decided to just focus on the game. She would deal with Emily’s bullshit later.

The game went smoothly for the first hour. They alternated which team was up to bat, and so far, everyone was doing really good. The second team was in the lead, but only by a few hits. It took about five hits for each girl to get one over the fence, but a few had taken more.

JJ was doing great at third base. She fielded every ball that was hit to her cleanly, and she always made a good throw to wherever it needed to go, which was usually across the entire field to the first baseman. She even showed off her skills a bit by making outs that she would never be expected to. She caught a foul ball over the fence of the dugout on her side of the field, and jumped high enough to catch a line drive that was hit over her head.

Everyone was impressed to see her in action like that. This was their first time live hitting to each other, which put on more pressure to be perfect. Their coaches were watching to make sure they could handle their positions in real game situations, and so far, she was doing a really amazing job.

Emily, on the other hand, was _not_ happy with how well she was doing, which JJ had expected. She figured it had something to do with Emily’s mom, like Jordan had said, but it still pissed her off. Whenever JJ made a good play and someone complimented her, Emily kicked the dirt around her and sent a cloud of it into the air. She played it off as just making sure the ground where she had to squat was level, but JJ had a feeling that it had to do with her.

By the end of practice, JJ had been the only one that hadn’t hit yet. One of the freshmen took her spot at third, and she went into the dugout to get ready for her turn. She put on her black batting gloves, her maroon helmet, and grabbed her bat. The girl hitting ahead of her hit one over the fence, so she went up to the plate.

JJ had a routine before the first pitch was thrown to her. Pretty much every player did. She had been doing it since her first year playing competitive softball when she was younger, so she did it _every_ time she went up to bat. Including practices.

She’s a right-handed batter, so she placed one foot in the batter’s box, and kept the other one on the line. That way, Rossi knew she wasn’t ready to be pitched to yet. She held her bat in front of her face, twisted it around in her hands, and took a deep breath. She put both feet in the batter’s box, and used her left hand to swing her bat in a circle until it was in the air by her right ear.

That was normally a smooth process, but instead of the bat coming up to her right hand by her ear, it hit Emily’s catcher’s mitt. JJ knew that the chances of that happening were close to zero, unless the brunette had been standing too close to her.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Emily yelled. She stood up from her crouching position, and lifted her mask to expose her face.

“I’m so sorry.” JJ dropped her bat and took a step towards Emily. “Are you okay?”

“Get away from me,” Emily spat.

“What happened?” Alex asked as she made her way over to home plate.

“I don’t know,” JJ said softly. “I accidentally hit her with my bat.” 

“There’s no way that was an accident!” Emily ripped off her mask and dropped it onto the ground.

“Emily, relax,” Hotch butted in.

JJ stood in the batter’s box with her eyebrows furrowed, unsure of how all of this had happened. She had only hit a catcher in that situation once before, and it was because they were crouching too close to home plate. She didn’t want to assume Emily had purposely been too close to her, but she knew Emily was smart enough to keep her distance from batters when they were in the box. JJ didn’t hit her on purpose, so she had no idea how it had happened.

“Don’t tell me to relax,” Emily said under her breath. She knew she would face the consequences for talking back to her coach later, but she was angry, so she didn’t care. She turned towards JJ, who had a sympathetic look on her face. “Fuck you.”

JJ’s eyes widened.

Emily kicked her catcher’s mask at JJ, walked into the dugout, and through the door into the locker room.

The mask didn’t hit JJ, but it still made her flinch when it landed at her feet. She looked up to find Hotch’s eyes on her. He was just as confused as she was.

“I didn’t hit her on purpose,” she explained. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“We know.” Alex shared a glance with Hotch, and then left to run after Emily. 

\-----

“What is going on with you two?” Hotch folded his hands together and placed them on his desk.

Emily leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew what he meant, but she really didn’t feel like dealing with it, so she sat quietly. Maybe JJ would say the perfect thing to get them both out of this situation. Because, you know, she _is_ perfect.

“It’s nothing,” JJ said quietly.

Huh. Emily was _not_ expecting that. She figured JJ would be angry, or at least try to explain what happened earlier when she hit her with her bat. But _neutrality_? That took her by surprise.

“It _is_ something,” Hotch said sternly. “We cannot be a team if there’s going to be conflict every time you’re in a room together.”

“You’re right.”

Emily glanced at the blonde. What was she doing?

“We’ll handle it, right Emily?” JJ looked at her and smiled brightly.

Oh my god. She was sucking up to him. She had been horrible to JJ from the start, and the girl was using it to her advantage! Hotch obviously saw right through Emily, but this new girl? He would buy anything she had to say just because she had good stats and a pretty face.

Emily nodded, but there was no way in _hell_ she was actually going to go along with JJ’s bullshit.


	4. is that what you want to hear?

JJ watched Emily walk by her and head straight for the back of the room, just like she always does. They had this class three times a week, so ignoring each other had become part of their routine. JJ always sat in the front, and Emily would come in and walk right by her. Sometimes they made eye contact, but that was rare.

It had been two weeks since they had their meeting with Hotch. JJ told him that they would handle it, but neither of them initiated a conversation about what happened. They had two classes together, and one of them was with Alex. Emily knew she couldn’t be a bitch in front of their coach, so she just stayed quiet. It was the same for practices, too. In their other class together, Emily went out of her way to avoid JJ during group work and discussions. She glared at JJ whenever she had the chance, but that was about it. JJ decided that was fine. For now.

Today, however, when JJ walked into her and Emily’s criminology class, there was writing on the whiteboard at the front of the room. She knew they had a group project coming up, and it looked like the groups were written on the whiteboard. Her and Emily’s names were under the same number.

JJ turned towards the back of the room to see if Emily had seen the whiteboard yet. She watched Emily sit down, look up, read the names, and stand right back up. She glanced at JJ quickly, but looked away as she made her way up to their professor.

What the hell was she going to do? Ask the professor to _switch_ their groups? God, of course that’s what she was going to do. When was she just going to suck it up and be civil?

JJ crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. Emily talked quietly with their professor, and after a few minutes, returned to her seat in the back of the room.

“Danielle, will you switch groups with Emily?” their professor spoke up from behind her desk.

A girl in the middle of the room, presumably Danielle, nodded her head and smiled at JJ. They were working in groups of two, so it would be just her and Danielle.

This was the type of thing that Emily had been doing for the last two weeks. She left the kitchen as soon as JJ walked into it, she closed her locker and went up to the field once JJ started talking to the team, and she practically bored holes into the back of her head when she sat behind her in their criminology class. JJ was _so_ tired of her being passive aggressive, but Emily kept it cool when they were in front of their coaches, and that’s what was important.

They had their first game tomorrow, and JJ hoped that Emily would at least _act_ decent around her so that things wouldn’t be weird. But, she hadn’t, so JJ needed to figure something out to get her to come around for the sake of the rest of the team. Maybe she could ask Emily to back off for the game? That was probably a bad idea, but JJ didn’t know what else to do.

\-----

“Alex?”

“Hey, Emily, come in.” Alex gestured toward the chair on the other side of her desk.

Alex had asked Emily to meet her in her office after her last class of the day. Criminology was her last one, so she headed right for Alex’s office once the class was over. She had just spent the last 90 minutes sitting with some guy named Colin who definitely knew nothing about criminology. JJ was smart, and it probably would’ve been best if she had just worked with her, but the thought of doing group work one-on-one with her like that almost drove her insane. So, she had to suck it up and work with Colin.

Emily had no idea what Alex wanted to talk to her about, but it probably wasn’t good. Usually, when Alex called her into her office, she wanted to talk about Emily’s temper, and whatever caused her most recent outburst. Emily thought she had behaved the last few weeks around her coaches, so maybe someone snitched on her for how she had been acting at the house and in class. 

“What’s up?” Emily asked as she sat down. She felt like she had been called down to the principal’s office.

“We have a game tomorrow, and it’ll be televised.” Alex told her.

Emily’s eyes grew wide. “It will?”

Her mother never came to her games. She lived on the other side of the country, and as much as she liked to travel, she never took a flight to California to see Emily play. Emily was fine with that; it was actually why she chose to go to school in California. The downside of playing for a division I school was that pretty much every single game they played was televised. And Elizabeth Prentiss never missed a game.

She watched Emily’s every move like a hawk. Any error she made while she was behind the plate was written down, and no matter where or how well Emily hit the ball when she was up to bat, Elizabeth always made notes on what she _should’ve_ done. Even if Emily played the best game of her life, Elizabeth still thought that she could improve somehow. And she called Emily at the end of each game to tell her what she did wrong and that her team was counting on her, and she failed. Again.

“Yeah, it will,” Alex confirmed. She was the only person who knew the extent of Elizabeth’s craziness, and she knew how much it affected Emily on and off the field. Emily hadn’t exactly opened up to her about it, but Alex could read her body language and connect the dots better than any of the other coaches.

Emily slumped back into her chair and let out a puff of air. She kept her face neutral, but her heart began to race. They haven’t had a game yet, so her mother had left her alone for the last month or so. But now that games were starting, she knew she was going to get calls after every single game.

“Let’s get ahead of this,” Alex suggested. She usually talked to Emily a few months into the season about how her mom affected her, but she thought it would be a good idea to nip it in the bud this time. Especially because Emily was already worked up about having a new player on the team.

“Get ahead of what?” Emily stitched her eyebrows together. She knew what Alex meant, but she hated talking about this. Her mom pissed her off. So what? Doesn’t _everyone’s_ mom piss them off?

“Emily, you are an incredible player, but you get stuck in your head sometimes. I know that’s probably because of the pressure your mom puts on you to be perfect, so let’s work on ignoring what she says when you bobble a ball or strike out. You are on this team for a reason. You don’t have to stress about your performance _all_ of the time.”

Honestly, that was really comforting to hear, but Emily _did_ have to worry about her performance all of the time. Her mom would never let her hear the end of it if she embarrassed herself on live television. Even if the game wasn’t televised, she still had to worry about her coaches and her teammates. They counted on her, so she had absolutely no room for error.

“Is that all?” Emily crossed her arms over her chest.

“Emily,” Alex warned.

“What?” Emily retorted more forcefully than she had expected herself to. She just wanted to go back to her apartment and crawl into bed.

“Please take this seriously.” Alex folded her hands on her desk. “You’ve already been stressed out, so I don’t want your mom to push you over the edge.”

Emily laughed. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” She knew Alex was not up for jokes right now, but her mom had been pushing her over the edge for her entire life. This season wouldn’t be any different. “Can I go now?”

“Fine.”

Emily stood.

“But please, think about what I said. We need you on your best game tomorrow.”

Emily was out of her office before Alex even finished her sentence.

-

Emily sat down onto the bench in the locker room and pulled her cleats onto her feet. She laced one up, and then the other, and stood to adjust the tightness of her belt.

The team was supposed to get to the field two hours before the game today, but Emily decided she wanted to arrive earlier than that. She wanted to spend some time in the stadium before it was filled with cheering fans, her loud teammates, and the large camera crew from ESPN. She normally got ready at home with the rest of the team, but today she decided to do her hair and put her uniform on in the locker room.

Emily walked over to the full-length mirror to make sure her uniform was on right. They were told to wear their maroon jerseys today, so she had white pants on with maroon socks. Her hair was up in a low ponytail so that it would fit in her catcher’s helmet, and she had a maroon visor on to keep the sun out of her eyes during warmups. Their games were televised, so a lot of the girls put on small amounts of makeup to look better on camera. Emily didn’t like to because she usually just sweat it all off, so she just curled her eyelashes and called it a day.

Emily knew her mother was going to watch the game today, and she was definitely going to call her about her performance after. Elizabeth was very good at making Emily feel like she let her team down somehow, even if she didn’t make a single error. Emily had worked herself up just thinking about it this morning, so she figured she should take Alex’s advice and clear her mind before the game. She was going to go for a run, and then just sit in the dugout before the stadium filled up.

Emily shut her locker and picked up her bag of equipment so she could head up to the field. She heard the entrance door open, but she just assumed it was a janitor or a staff member. Her team wasn’t supposed to get there for another thirty minutes, and no one _ever_ showed up early. Emily walked around a set of lockers in the direction of the field access and almost collided with JJ.

“Hey.”

Emily stepped to the side to push past her, but JJ held up her hands and stepped in front of her.

“Wait,” JJ pleaded. “Please.”

“I came here to be _alone_ , Jareau,” Emily told her. She took another step, but JJ put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving past her. She rolled her eyes, but decided to just listen to what she had to say so she could get out of there.

“I know, and I promise I’ll leave you alone after this.” JJ sighed. She knew there was a small chance that Emily was going to take her seriously right now, but she was so tired of being treated like shit. Emily looked annoyed, but she didn’t try to leave again, so JJ continued. “Look, we have a game. We have to actually go onto the field and play together. As a _team_. That is way more important than whatever _this_ is.” She gestured between the both of them. “Can you hate me later? Please?”

Emily narrowed her eyes at JJ. She knew exactly what she meant, but that was the least of her worries today. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

“Well you have to, or Hotch will have both of our asses on a stick,” JJ told her firmly.

Emily scoffed. “Typical of you to make this all about yourself,” she spat. Emily pushed past the blonde and walked up the stairs to the dugout. She threw her equipment bag onto the bench and took off running. She would worry about stretching later.

Emily sprinted around the inside perimeter of the stadium until she couldn’t breathe. She slowed her pace to a light jog, but didn’t stop. She would much rather focus on the way her feet were moving underneath her than what had just happened with JJ. Emily was worried about playing well so her mom had less to say to her after the game, and she knew Alex was going to be paying close attention to her attitude. She didn’t have time to think about pleasing Hotch, too.

After about thirty minutes of jogging and going over every scenario in her head of how her call with her mother could go, people started making their way into the stadium. The opposing team showed up and put their equipment in the dugout, a few people were raking the dirt on the field, and Alex walked onto the field.

“You okay?” Alex asked as Emily made her way into the dugout.

“Fine,” Emily muttered. She sat down on the bench and took a sip of her water. She knew Alex would not let her get away with not talking.

“Emily,” Alex warned.

Emily looked up to respond, but she was caught off guard by a man with a camera on the other side of the field. The camera crew was dispersed around the stadium setting up their things.

“Alex, I’m fine. I promise.” Emily softened her tone to seem more believable. She was pretty sure Alex didn’t buy it, but the cameras would start recording soon, and she didn’t want to spend her last few minutes of freedom arguing with her coach.

-

It was the bottom of the fourth inning and neither team had scored yet.

The beginning of the game went well for everyone playing defense. Tara was throwing three strikes for every ball, which kept the other team from hitting or getting on base. Any time they did hit, it was usually a weak ground ball to one of the infielders, which they fielded cleanly, and threw to first base to get the out. Hotch was satisfied with how well they were doing, but he wanted them to pick up the energy when they were up to bat.

They had already been through the entire lineup, so they were starting from the beginning this inning. Jordan, who usually hits first in the lineup, got the last out in the previous inning, so JJ was leading off this time. She hit second because of her speed and damaging bat, Elle hit after her because she was known for bringing runners in, and then Emily was up after her.

Emily hit fourth in the lineup, which meant she had the strongest bat on the team. She was a power hitter, and everyone knew her for her high slugging percentage. She was amazing, but that put a lot of pressure on her to be amazing _all_ of the time.

Her first at-bat had gone pretty well, but she wasn’t totally satisfied with it. She got on base, but only because the shortstop on the other team chose to throw JJ out at second base instead of her at first base. Jordan advanced to third, but no one hit her in after that. Emily was mad at herself because she was put in that spot in the lineup to bring baserunners in, not get them out. She figured her mother would mention that later. Emily decided not to dwell on it, though, because she had to hit again this inning and she wanted to go up to bat with a clear head.

“Emily,” Hotch called her over to the area just outside of the dugout.

“Yeah?” She slipped on her batting gloves, grabbed her bat and helmet, and then walked over to where he was standing.

“JJ’s slapping,” he told her. That was code for ‘do whatever you can to get her around the bases’. “Elle’s bat is hot today, so if she gets on base, we need you. I want to get this game rolling.” The catcher on the other team threw the ball to second base, indicating that the inning was about to start. Hotch nodded at Emily, and then jogged across the field to his spot next to third base.

Emily sighed. More pressure. She shared a glance with Alex, and then stepped back into the dugout.

JJ could apparently slap hit now, which was something she picked up over the summer before transferring teams. She was quick, but she was also a smart baserunner. If she got on base, she could practically steal her way around the rest of the bases to score a run. Having her hit left handed was just to get her a few steps closer to first base.

Emily watched the blonde step into the batter’s box with enough confidence to scare the entire defense of the other team. She was jealous of how well JJ handled herself on the field, but she could think about that later. Right now, she was focused on watching the first pitch of the inning.

A rise ball.

Luckily, JJ didn’t swing. She was really good at reading the ball as soon as it came out of the pitcher’s hand, and she knew exactly what spin to look for to get a solid hit out of it.

The second pitch came, which was high and outside, but it hit the corner of the zone. JJ knew that she wouldn’t get a good piece of it, so she chose not to swing. Strike.

Emily spun her wrists to loosen them up. This pitcher hit her spots really well, so Emily had to be prepared to hit the ball anywhere in the zone.

The pitcher threw again, but this time it was a changeup. It hit the dirt before it went into the catcher’s glove. Another ball. The count was 2-1, which was exactly what the hitter looked for. The next pitch thrown was almost always a fastball.

And it was. JJ hit the top of the ball as she took a step forward, which made it bounce off of the dirt and over the head of the third baseman. After the second bounce, it rolled into the shortstop’s glove, but JJ was at first base before she could even think about throwing it.

Everyone in the dugout cheered, and a small smile crept onto Emily’s face. It didn’t last long, but as the captain of the team, she was happy to see the inning start off so well. If they kept this momentum going, they had a pretty good chance of scoring some runs.

Elle walked over to the batter’s box and took her spot almost as confidently as JJ did.

God, Emily would kill to feel as confident as they all looked. 

The pitcher started her windup. Elle hit a double the last time she went up to bat, so Emily figured the pitcher wouldn’t throw her anything that she could make solid contact with.

Emily was right. The pitcher threw an off-speed drop ball, but Elle was ready for it. She hit a line drive over the shortstop’s head that dropped on the grass right in front of the left fielder. JJ made it to second base before the ball hit the grass, and Elle was safe on first. She did exactly what she was supposed to.

JJ was in scoring position, and was definitely fast enough to make it home. All Emily had to do was hit the ball past the infielders. She could do that.

“C’mon, Prentiss!” Hotch clapped his hands together loudly. JJ and Elle had done their part, now it was Emily’s turn. He just hoped that she wouldn’t psych herself out.

_Don’t fuck this up, Emily,_ she thought to herself. She grabbed her bat by the barrel and jogged over to the batter’s box. Emily stepped into the box and kicked the dirt around out of habit. She took the handle in her right hand, tapped the front corners of the plate, and then lifted it up. She was ready.

The first pitch was over the opposite batter’s box, so she watched it go by. That was a good start. Her confidence usually grew with every bad pitch she didn’t swing at.

Emily watched the next pitch leave the pitcher’s hand. She knew how to read the spin of the ball from catching for Tara so much, so she recognized that the spin was normal for this one. A fastball. It was inside, but if she hit it in front of the plate, she could pull it over the left fielder’s head.

The ball hit her bat, but not in the spot she had hoped for. It hit the middle of the bat, which made the whole thing vibrate. It stung Emily’s hands, and the ball tipped off of the bat and hit the inside of her left ankle. She stepped out of the batter’s box immediately, and bent her knee to take the weight off of her ankle.

“Prentiss, you good?” Derek called from the first base sideline.

“Walk it off!” Hotch yelled. He knew a foul ball off of the ankle was painful, but he needed his best hitter right now.

Emily took her bat into her right hand and shook out her left. She took a few steps away from the batter’s box, paused, and then rolled her ankle to make sure she could move it. It still hurt, but there was nothing she could do about that now. Emily stepped into the batter’s box again, and her team cheered, happy that she was fine to finish her at-bat.

“Yeah, Em!” JJ shouted from second base. She clapped her hands together as the brunette lifted her bat again. “You got this!”

Emily took a deep breath, but the exhale came out harsher than she thought it would. She was pissed at herself for swinging at a pitch that was clearly too inside for her to get a good piece of it. Her team needed her right now, and she couldn’t even pick a good pitch to swing at.

The next pitch was a change up, and Emily swung at it. It was right down the middle, and she definitely could have hit it, but she swung a few seconds too early, which was exactly what they wanted her to do.

_Of fucking course,_ Emily cursed at herself. She stepped out of the box and took a quick practice swing. Now she was mad, and it didn’t help that her ankle still hurt like a bitch.

Emily stepped back into the batter’s box, and glanced past the pitcher to look at JJ. Her blonde hair was braided down her back, and her white pants were tight around her thighs. She had the go-ahead from Hotch to steal on a pass-ball, so her legs were bent and she was ready to quickly push off of the bag if she needed to. She looked carefree, and she had a smile on her face from cheering for Emily.

Emily shook her head slightly, and focused her attention back to the pitcher. Emily narrowed her eyes at her. There were two strikes in the count, so the pitcher could either throw one of her best pitches to go for the strikeout, or throw something bad to make Emily swing. Either way, Emily knew she _had_ to swing.

The pitcher threw another change up, but Emily remembered that she was having trouble getting the ball up in the zone with that pitch. She watched it go by, but realized that it was right down the middle as soon as it landed in the catcher’s mitt.

_Fuck._

The other team’s dugout erupted in cheers. Emily jogged back to the dugout, careful not to make eye contact with any of her coaches or teammates. A few girls patted her back to let her know that striking out when everyone was counting on her was okay, but Emily didn’t buy it. She ripped off her batting gloves and threw them at her equipment bag. She didn’t know how the rest of the inning was going to go, but she didn’t care. Emily plopped down onto the bench and put on her catcher’s gear. She wanted to kick something, but she knew that the cameras filmed them in the dugout sometimes, so she opted for quiet grunts and ignoring everyone around her.

The rest of the inning didn’t go as well as Hotch had hoped it would. Sam, who hit after Emily, advanced JJ to third base, and then she scored on a pass ball. Everyone was excited to finally get a run in, but the momentum died after that. With two runners on base and only one out, they had a pretty good chance of scoring again, but the next two batters went up to hit and got out. Both of them hit well, but the other team’s defense was better.

They had three more chances to hit, and they were up by one run, so the girls figured they didn’t have to worry. At the top of the fifth inning, the first batter on the other team walked. She went to steal second base, so Emily threw the ball to Elle, who was covering the bag. Emily’s throw was too high, and ended up in the outfield. The runner advanced to third base, and then the next batter hit a homerun. They had no outs in the inning yet, and had already lost their lead.

The other team, the Washington Huskies, scored another two runs that inning. Tara threw a wild pitch, which Emily normally would have been able to block, especially because there was a runner on base, but it got away from her. The runner scored on her error. The fourth run they got that inning was from another homerun.

Going into the bottom of that inning, the girls were confident in themselves to turn the game around and win. Emily, on the other hand, was kicking herself for being responsible for half of the runs the other team had scored. If only she had gotten JJ around the bases last inning like she was supposed to, then maybe they wouldn’t be losing.

The rest of the game went by in a blur. The Spartans only scored one more time in the sixth inning. JJ led off that inning again, and she hit the first ball that was pitched to her. She hit a homerun, which was the best way they could’ve started the inning. Elle went up to bat after her with a lot of energy, and hit a single. Emily was up next, and she hit a deep pop fly to the left fielder, who caught it effortlessly.

She knew it was a good hit, but the momentum that they had started with dwindled after she got the first out of the inning. No one scored for the rest of the game.

The team did well defensively, so the Huskies only scored one more run in the second half of the game. Tara pitched the entire game, which normally Hotch wouldn’t let her do, but he needed their best pitcher to keep the other team from getting on base. It worked, but when they did get hits, the infield and outfield did a good job of fielding the ball cleanly and getting them out.

After Emily made two errors in the fifth inning, Alex knew the rest of the game for her wouldn’t be good. They decided to let Rowan, the sophomore catcher on the team, finish the game for her. Emily sat on the bench for the last inning, and watched her team lose from inside of the dugout.

-

“Hello?” Emily deadpanned. She had been expecting the call, but it still annoyed her to see her mother’s name pop up on her phone. The game had ended about an hour ago, so the rest of the team was home already. Emily wanted to stay to give herself some time to think, and she knew she would be alone when her mother called.

“Emily,” Elizabeth said through the phone. “What happened to you in the fifth inning?”

“What do you mean, _mom_?” Emily knew exactly what she meant, but she wanted to piss her mother off as much as she could before the woman had the chance to yell at her about her performance.

“Two errors, Emily! And your batting average was zero today.”

“I know, I was there. Thank you for the reminder.” Emily threw her towel onto the floor. Her hair was still wet from the shower she took after the game, but her mom called before she had the chance to blow-dry it.

“Emily Victoria, I do _not_ appreciate your attitude,” Elizabeth said sternly. Emily was convinced that she only had two emotions: disappointment and anger.

“I’m sorry.” She wasn’t really sorry, but she knew that the call would end a lot quicker if she just shut up and listened to what her mom had to say.

“Who is that new girl on your team?”

“What?”

“I think her name is Jennifer. The announcer said that she transferred to your team this year,” Elizabeth recalled.

“Oh. _Her._ ” Emily rolled her eyes. Although she was happy that the conversation shifted off of her, Emily hated that her mom wanted to talk about JJ of all people. “JJ,” Emily confirmed. “She’s my age.”

“I saw that.” When their games were televised, a summary of their stats and some information about them as students was displayed on the screen when they went up to bat. “Her batting average was higher than yours last season,” Elizabeth pointed out.

Emily let out a huff of air. She should’ve known this was coming.

“Why is your coach having you hit in the fourth spot when she’s on the team? She had a perfect game today, and you obviously aren’t capable of that. If I were your coach, I would make some changes after today.”

_What the fuck?_ Emily thought to herself. She wasn’t being serious, was she? “Is that all?” Emily tried to keep her tone neutral, but she was pissed. She wanted to scream at her for not treating her like a mother should treat their daughter after a bad game.

“Tell Alex that I want you to work on some more blocking drills. You can’t afford to have that many pass balls again,” Elizabeth concluded. “Goodbye Emily.”

Emily didn’t answer. She hung up the call, and threw her phone onto the towel on the floor. She was angry, but she was also hurt. If her mom hated her so much, why did she even bother calling her just to tell her how terrible she is at everything? She rested her elbows on her thighs, and buried her face into her hands.

“Emily?”

The brunette looked up as a tear fell down her cheek. JJ was standing next to her with a sympathetic look on her face. She sat up quickly and sniffled, trying to subtly wipe the tear away without JJ noticing.

“Are you okay?” JJ sat down next to Emily and placed a gentle hand on the small of her back. The answer was obvious, but she figured that Emily would open up to her if she gave her a little push.

“I’m fine.” Emily stood up and walked over to her locker. She opened it, and pulled out her hairbrush to start combing through her wet hair. She did not want to have this conversation with anyone, but especially not with JJ.

“Emily, you can talk to me,” JJ told her calmly.

Her voice was soft and genuine, but Emily wasn’t buying it. She turned to face the inside of her locker, which put her back between her and where JJ was sitting on the bench. Emily opted to not answer the blonde. They had already talked before the game, so she didn’t have anything else to say to her.

“Was that your mom on the phone?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Emily replied. She talked into her locker instead of turning to face the girl. It was a lot easier than looking into her soft, concerned blue eyes.

“Emily, please, I want to help,” JJ pushed. She stood and walked over to where Emily stood at her locker. She put a hand on her shoulder to get the brunette to turn around.

“Stop!” Emily whipped around causing JJ to practically jump backwards. “Stop trying to help, okay? I don’t need your help!” She looked JJ in the eye to hopefully help the blonde understand what she was trying to say. Her life was so much easier before JJ showed up and tried to get to know her.

“If you would just talk to me, maybe I could-”

“My mom hates me, okay? Is that what you want to hear?” Emily was yelling now. There was only a small distance between the two girls, so Emily was yelling right in her face. “She called me to pick apart every single mistake I made today. She ended the call by telling me that _you_ should take my position because you’re _so_ much better than me. Okay? Are we done now?”

JJ was shocked. She didn’t know what to say or do, but she hated that her name had come up in their conversation. JJ would never compare their performances or try to make Emily feel inferior just because of a few errors, so the fact that her own _mother_ did that really set JJ off. She wanted to help more now than she did when she walked into the locker room.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Emily spat. She bent over to pick up her towel and her phone. She threw her hairbrush into her locker and hung the towel up on one of the hooks so it could dry. She wanted this conversation to be over.

“I’m sorry she compared us. That’s unfair to you, and I hate that she-”

“JJ, stop! Just because you kiss up to the coaches doesn’t mean I want you to kiss up to me. I had a bad game, and that’s it. Stop trying to make me feel better just to get on my good side. Leave me the fuck alone.”

Emily slammed her locker shut, swung her equipment bag over her shoulder, and left JJ alone in the locker room.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm really excited about this fic, so i hope you guys are too! 
> 
> let me know what you think! my tumblr is @jcreaus if you wanna say hi!
> 
> have a good day/night :)


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